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  2. Elections

2 Republican Candidates Actually Want a Higher Minimum Wage

Published: Sep 17, 2015 2 min read
Republican presidential candidates, cnn debates
Getty Images / Sandy Huffaker

At the September 16 debates among the 15 remaining Republican presidential candidates, two of them actually came out in favor of a higher minimum wage--in their own way.

In the early debate among the four candidates with the lowest polling numbers--Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, and Lindsay Graham--Santorum said he'd support an increase of 50 cents per hour, over three years, in the federal minimum wage, which now stands at $7.25 per hour. That's well below President Obama's desired target of $10.10, which is currently the minimum wage required to be paid by new federal contractors.

In the later debate among the higher-polling candidates, Ben Carson championed a two-tier minimum wage with different levels for younger and older workers. He also proposed linking the minimum wage to inflation "so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America."

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